Joe Randazzo (born March 28, 1978) is an American comedy writer, stand-up comedian, and improvisational comedian. He is a former editor of the satirical newspaper, The Onion.[1] In addition to performing stand-up, Randazzo has been a guest host of the improv comedy show ASSSSCAT 3000 at New York City's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. An avid user of Twitter [2] and a critic of Internet memes,[3] Randazzo was nominated for a 2009 ECNY Award for Outstanding Performance in the Field of Tweeting.[4] Randazzo has appeared on NPR's This American Life,[5] PBS's Charlie Rose,[6] and MSNBC's Morning Joe.[7] Randazzo was awarded the Burke Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse through the Arts by the College Historical Society of Trinity College Dublin in 2012.

Joe Randazzo
Birth nameJoseph Michael Randazzo
Born (1978-03-28) March 28, 1978 (age 46)
MediumThe Onion, Twitter, Stand-up
Alma materEmerson College
GenresSatire

Early life and education

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Randazzo is from Penacook, New Hampshire. He earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College, and worked for NPR in Boston shortly thereafter.

Career

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After moving to New York, Randazzo met Carol Kolb of The Onion while performing improv comedy at the Magnet Theater.[8]

In 2016, He helped write Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie, which was a parody of Donald Trump's autobiographical novel of the same name.

Randazzo left his job at Manhattan Fruitier, a fruit basket company, in March 2006 to join the editorial staff of The Onion.[8] He was a writer and section editor of The Onion's 2007 book Our Dumb World, a parody of the standard desk atlas, and was promoted to editor in 2008.[9] In Randazzo's tenure, The Onion published the compilation Our Front Pages, was fictitiously sold to a Chinese conglomerate,[2] and openly campaigned for a Pulitzer Prize.[7] Randazzo, who lives in Brooklyn, will have reportedly left The Onion when they moved their editorial offices to Chicago.[10]

Books

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  • Our Front Pages: 21 Years of Greatness, Virtue, and Moral Rectitude from America's Finest News Source (Onion Presents). The Onion, Scribner, 2009. ISBN 1-4391-5692-1
  • Our Dumb World. The Onion, Little, Brown and Company, 2008. ISBN 0-316-01843-0

References

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  1. ^ "Staff". The Onion. October 15, 2011. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
  2. ^ a b Zulkey, Claire (July 29, 2011). "The Joe Randazzo interview". WBEZ.
  3. ^ Randazzo, Joe. "Twelve things the world should toss out". The Washington Post.
  4. ^ "2009 ECNY Awards Nominees Announced". PRWeb. February 5, 2010. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010.
  5. ^ Glass, Ira (February 4, 2011). "Tough Room". This American Life.
  6. ^ Rose, Charlie (October 29, 2008). "A conversation about The Onion". Charlie Rose. Archived from the original on August 2, 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
  7. ^ a b "How The Onion got its name". Morning Joe. June 23, 2011. Archived from the original on November 29, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Ernst, Amanda (December 23, 2009). "So What Do You Do, Joe Randazzo, Editor of The Onion?". Media Bistro.
  9. ^ Holman, Curt (October 12, 2010). "Speakeasy with Joe Randazzo, editor of The Onion". Creative Loafing Atlanta.
  10. ^ Hartsell, Carol (September 30, 2011). "The Onion Editor Joe Randazzo To Leave Ahead Of Chicago Move". The Huffington Post.
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